Bus Stops
by Jyo-Chan
Summary: It's just you and me, and this here bus stop. -One shot series- Axel x Roxas
1. Burned

This burning, cooling sensation has never felt so good before. Axel x Roxas.

Oh damn, here I go again with another attempt to expand the AkuRoku empire…With one shot series! HOORAH!

Mind you, that these one-shots have absolutely NOTHING to do with each other. Just think of them as a separate story, except…well…you get what I mean.

Anyways! I'd love to dedicate this first chapter to WGreyB who has shared a lot of things with me and made me feel all loved and everything!! Here's to you!!!

* * *

It stung. Like hell…

Roxas stared at his finger with a slight scowl. It throbbed and it felt like it was being burned continuously.

Which wasn't too far away from the truth, considering that he _did_ burn himself on his finger.

Not on purpose though.

He let out a sigh and then looked up from the pain to see nothing but the pouring rain and the people who ran and tried to find shelter while they kept their pathetic excuse of their umbrellas intact against the howling wind.

He looked back down at his finger and sighed again. It was discolored just slightly and it looked like it could pop any minute. The thought irked him but got him curious at the same time.

He stared at his wrist watch and calculated about another ten minutes or so of wait to go. That is, if the bus came on time, which, it hardly ever does.

The bus stop was empty, save for him. He got to the place before the rain started. And when the rain poured down, the unoccupied part of the bench got drizzled over with water.

Too caught up in his own world and blistered finger, he never noticed somebody sitting down next to him on the wet bench. Although he did barely register the slight movement of the seat under the extra weight.

"That's a nasty burn you've got there, how d'ya get it?" the boy next to him asked as he pointed to the discolored spot on the blonds' finger.

Roxas turned to the stranger and could only just barely make out the dark green eyes and tattoos behind the shadows of his dark hood. He shrugged and returned his attention to his throbbing wound.

"Tried to take out a hot pan from the oven with a semi-wet towel." He sighed again.

The other boy winced, "Ouch, that's gotta hurt like fuck."

He snorted and rolled his eyes, "No shit."

There was a chuckle, "I'll be right back." He spoke casually as he got up from the seat and walked away to who knows where. Roxas almost laughed when he saw that the guy's pants were wet from the seat.

He didn't quite understand why the guy told him that he'll be right back. They were only strangers after all.

But the hooded boy came back minutes later with a drink in each hand, "Ok, here you go," he gave the blond a soda can, "Keep holding it."

"Oh…thank you." He numbly nodded as he took the drink, enjoyed the coolness of it on his injured finger. It gave a nice cooling sensation over the blistering burn.

"No worries," he smirked as he took back the seat next to the blond, the bench not as wet as before because his pants already soaked up a majority of the rain water. "I'm no stranger to burns so I know how they work." He smirked as he reached up and pulled his hood off, revealing his flaming red hair.

'No fucking way that's natural.' The blond commented in his head as he quirked up an eyebrow at the other boy who opened his drink and took a sip from it.

"And yes, it's natural." He smirked at the boy as he rested his arm at the back of the seat just behind the blond.

"I didn't-"

"You were _thinking_ it." he tapped his forehead as he swung one leg over the other, showing off his semi-clean black and white converse shoes.

'No point denying it.' he shrugged and turned his attention back to the can of soda in his hands where the condensation slowly dripped onto the blister. It felt pleasantly nice.

Five minutes later with an empty can and an unopened one, the red head sat by the blond in comfortable silence, usually punctuated by the splashing of the tires on the mini rivers by the curbs or the splattering of shoes on water.

The red head sighed, "This is boring, talk to me." He turned his head to the blond.

The blond was tempted to stick a finger in his ear and free whatever got stuck in it. He wasn't sure if it was his ears playing around with him or if he really heard it correctly, but when the boy looked back at him expectantly, he knew he had to answer, "Ok." He stared at the can in his hand, "Are you always this friendly towards strangers?" he asked curiously as he rotated the drink in his hand, enjoying the new rush of coolness.

"Nope." The red head grinned, "Just you."

The blond snorted and finally decided to open the can.

Ten minutes later, with two empty cans of soda, the bus has yet to arrive. It was hardly ever on time, and the blond could hazard that it'll be another five more minutes of wait. More or less.

"Up for some ice cream?"

Again, the blond wasn't sure if he heard correctly as he stared at the red head, "What?"

He quirked up an eyebrow at the blond, "What? Did you go deaf too? I asked if you wanted to go get some ice cream."

He turned his head back to the front and suppressed a tired sigh, "I have to catch the bus home."

"Catch the next one."

"The next one is in an hour, probably more, _this_ bus is already freaking late by almost ten minutes." He reasoned with a slight huff.

"Ok." He shrugged, "I'll drive you home then."

"If you have a car, then why the fuck are you here." He narrowed his eyes at the red headed stranger.

"Answer my question." He demanded with a pointed stare.

The blond sighed and considered it.

He was cold, he was wet, he had homework to do, he wanted to go home and take a nice, hot shower, then sleep, and not wake up till way past noon the next day. That was his plan. It sounded good in his mind.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." He shrugged and got up from his seat.

But ice cream sounded good too.

The red head smirked as he got up and led the way with the blond walking right beside him.

"I'm Roxas." He suddenly blurted out halfway down the main street towards the not-so-busy intersection.

"The name's Axel. A-X-_E­-_L. Not A-X-L-E, got it memorized?" he smirked as he tapped his forehead.

The blond snorted out in laughter.

* * *

Meh…It's short…And the mention of ice cream made it sweet. So technically, it's short and sweet. Would this qualify as mindless drabble? I suppose so… 


	2. Music Serendipity

Every morning was considered the same to Axel, but today, this morning, it was different. Axel x Roxas.

Another one-shot. Lawls. Plot bunnies are EVERYWHERE! Axel's P.O.V.

* * *

It was seven o'clock in the morning when I first saw him, with the kid leaning towards the window a little. His eyes closed, his ears plugged up with earphones.

I wondered if the kid was going through a bad hair day, what with his hair slightly curled up to one side. But it fit him, he fit the look.

I imagined his name was something unique too. Something nobody else had, or rarely had. Although having a name that came from a country was over the border.

Hah…border. Country. Get it?

…

Yeah, yeah, nobody gets a good joke these days.

"Three stages please." I spoke when it came to my turn in the queue to get on the ride as I handed a five dollar bill to the driver and waited for the older man to hand back my change. The old man was being pretty picky about handing back the change. Gave me all the small coins. You know, the fifty cents, twenty cents, the ten cent coins and so on.

I didn't really mind too much though. I figured I could use the spare change the next time I played Poker with Luxord, Demyx and the gang.

After he counted it up, the driver handed me back my change and then he pushed a button on the ticketing machine to give me a bus ticket before I took a seat down next to the blond.

The kid opened his eyes as soon as I sat down next to him.

And damn, those were the prettiest blue eyes I had ever seen. But the kid was looking a little less than aware and was looking a little more like he was wondering why this guy (this guy being me) was sitting right next to him.

Thing one, and thing two.

Thing one, this was the only seat left available in the damn bus. It was a busy Monday morning and the seats that I'd normally sit in were filled up and taken.

And thing two, I didn't want to fall off the edge of my seat or have people annoying brushing past, hence, why I was sitting right next to him with our arms brushing. Surely he wasn't claustrophobic, right? One can only hope.

The kid didn't complain, no, but he looked a little miffed.

Probably wasn't a morning person; I figured as I continued to watch the blond from my peripheral vision.

He shifted a little, probably tried to shift to the next song over on his play list that was probably in the pocket of his overly large black sweater.

The bus was pretty damn loud, but the music the kid was listening to?

The sound level that the music was playing at sounded like he was standing right by the speakers at a loud concert.

Yeah, it was _that_ intense.

And seriously, I could hear it playing loud and clear even though our heads were a good distance away.

Sort of made me wonder if the kid was close to being deaf or not. But oh well, it provided me with free music, something to listen to, and insight to the kid's taste in music.

He obviously liked rock. And punk. Some acoustic music. And was that the All American Rejects playing there?

Talk about variety. This kid had all of the genres. Even the random classical music that I barely managed to pick out when it went into a crescendo and finished with a finale of the cymbals smashing into each other.

The bus lurched to a halt, picked up two more people while nobody made a move to get off and then after the two people paid for their fares and was each given a bus ticket, they moved to the back of the bus and used the hand rails to keep balance as the bus started up again and merged back in with the traffic.

Another song started playing. This kid was a Linkin Park fan, by the sounds of it.

I had been a previous Linkin Park fan too. And then their music went downhill when Mike Shinoda started his own new band, which has a nice name, but then all of Linkin Park's music (LP for short) sounded like a cheap re-run of their previous albums.

What a pity. Although 'Breaking the Habit' had been my favorite song of all time.

It's still in my own MP3 player, but I failed to charge it up and now it's lying in my pocket, dead.

What the hell was that? Was the kid listening to Franz Ferdinand?

Had I not been on the bus and out in public, I might've said something along the lines of 'Want me to take you out?' insert a smirk and the wiggle of the eyebrows here.

The kid wouldn't have heard me though, since his music was practically blaring into his ears and making him lose his precious hearing.

I sniffed nonchalantly as I braced myself for the bus to slow to a semi-sudden halt. Out went one lady, in came five more people.

I was starting to notice a few familiar faces now.

That old guy with a balding head always hopped on this bus every morning, always asked for two stages, always paid in spare change, and always hopped off three stops before the final stop into the city center, two stop before mine.

And then there was the lady whose hair was always tied in a bun, her work clothes never seem to alter or change very much, her glasses were always the same and she never wore any accessories. Probably came with the whole professional look.

Then there were a few people I couldn't quite remember though.

Like that old Chinese lady probably on her way out to that Chinese grocer shop about three stops away from here.

And that girl student who's probably _way_ too early for school. Dude…it's barely past 7 o'clock.

Doesn't high schools start at what? 8.30am or something?

Whatever. Not my problem if she doesn't wanna sleep in. Talk about hard-core…

The music beside me ended, and a new song began. The blond must really like Taking Back Sunday, since this is the third song in a row of theirs I've already heard.

I went to a couple of their concerts before. It was seriously fucking awesome.

I sort of missed out on getting a ticket into the mosh pit, but damn, it was still so worth it.

I own a couple of CD's from them too. I managed to get a signed CD as well from one of their concerts. Definitely one of my most prized possessions.

The bus suddenly halted again, the people who had been standing up suddenly lost their footing and tried to regain them before they bumped right into the next person.

The door was opened, three more people got on, paid, were given their bus ticket, and off the bus went again; merging in with the morning traffic and taking a short cut in the bus lane.

Thank God for those lanes…But they're only usable for two hours in the morning during peak hour.

Somebody (most likely the Chinese old lady) pushed the button to signal to the driver that he or she wanted to get off on the next stop.

Not ten seconds later, the bus slowed to a halt, out went one person (the Chinese lady as predicted) and in came two more people.

The bus was starting to get a little cramped now. Not that I minded much, since I was lucky enough to snag a seat by the blond with a very nice taste in music.

Although I had absolutely no fucking idea what he was listening to now. Something classical, since I managed to hear some strings of violins playing along with the timpani.

And then the blond changed the music and a song by My Chemical Romance started playing.

So typical for a teenager listen to a song called 'Teenagers'. Should've heard it coming a mile away.

I noticed that the driver was going past bus stops that had people waiting for him. Bus the bus was cramped and no more passengers could be taken in.

Sorry guys, better luck next time.

The rest of the ride went by without anymore sudden stops, unless we were at the traffic lights, although today, all of them had been mercifully green and before I could even learn how to spell 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious', we were close to the city center within five minutes.

And shit…that was a fucking mouthful… Gave me a total headache just _thinking_ about it.

The song came to a finish and a new one started. And despite my vast knowledge of music, I couldn't quite remember what the song that the blond was listening to was called.

And it wasn't until the chorus came around that I realized that the kid was listening to Sum 41. Not my top favorite band, but they've got a few good songs.

For some reason though, I was quite surprised that I haven't stumbled across a Good Charlotte song yet.

Oh wait, I take back what I said previously. The kid just played a song by them. Sounded like 'The River'.

And after a bit more eavesdropping, it indeed was 'The River', good song though, I gotta admit.

I'm a sucker for features.

I realized that my stop was coming up soon, about another two stops away. It didn't seem like I was going to miss it though, since about three stops ago, the bus had been constantly lurching to a halt to let people off.

And there goes the latest song by Simple Plan. I liked it at first, and then I made the mistake of putting it on repeat for a few hours (a few days really, but who was really counting?) and I was suddenly sick of it.

But surprisingly, I didn't mind it so much now that I was listening in to whatever the blond was playing. Weird huh?

Like how that saying goes; you don't know what you're missing until you've lost it. Or something like that. One or the other.

My stop was right around the corner now, well actually, it was straight ahead, but that was just a minor detail. Somebody pushed the button to get off, the bus slowed to a stop, and I made my way out of the bus.

Imagine my surprise when the kid actually followed me out.

How I knew the kid was behind me? His loud music was a dead giveaway.

Of course, it's not like the blond was purposefully stalking me. He seemed like a very young, not to mention short, college student.

It was funny how they put two different universities only a street away from each other.

I go to Hollow Bastion University, HBU for short. Radiant Garden University was another street away, barely a five minutes walk from HBU.

Personally, I would've tried to go on and admit myself into RGU, but they didn't offer the course that I wanted, so I ended up going to HBU instead.

Oh wells, you win some, you lose some.

And the kid was _still_ following me, along with his loud music from what I could tell was by The Used.

Emo much?

I ignored the kid though as I turned the corner, and walked up the stairs towards another part of the university.

The loud music faded away, along with the shuffling footsteps that the blond made.

Can't say that I wasn't disappointed. I would've been flattered to have some kid following me around.

People call me conceited, but I like to think of myself as a bit of a paranoid guy. A paranoid guy who enjoys getting attention. You know?

Whatever.

Anyways, that was the last I saw of the blond.

* * *

The next time I saw the kid, it was fifteen minutes past 9 o'clock at night at the bus stop in the city center.

Instead of looking sleepy and unaware like earlier this morning, this time, the kid looked tired and disheveled.

Must've been a hectic day in class.

But it got me thinking. I've been in the city since what…? 7.30am in the morning? And so has this kid apparently.

My last class finished at 3pm though, but I had a reason to stay behind.

I've got this test coming up in a couple of days time and I had been in the library studying.

See, normally I don't study. I prefer to wing it. Easier that way. Not to mention less stressing. But I guess I must've gotten a calling.

Fate or Destiny or Karma told me to stay behind in the city for a while and take the late night bus home so I could have another run in with the kid.

Does that mean this blond is good news? Or bad news?

Ah…how tempting it is to find out.

But anyways, back to what I had been thinking about. I had a reason to stay behind. But what about this kid?

I didn't see him anywhere in the library. Although there were four floors to that place and it's pretty fucking huge, so I guess I might've missed him.

The loud music was still playing, and I could hear another one of Taking Back Sunday's music. 'A Decade under the Influence' was playing and I couldn't help but smirk as I had a passing thought of, 'Got a bad feeling about this eh?'

Maybe that was Fate or Destiny or Karma baiting me to make a move on the blond. One or the other.

In the end, I inclined my head over towards the blond and spoke, "Rough day at college?"

I figured that the kid probably didn't hear me, since his music was still damn loud, and the lead singer was practically screaming in his ears.

But imagine my surprise when I got a shrug and a curt answer from the blond, "Work."

Either the blonds' hearing was really good, or mine was really bad.

I'm pretty sure my hearing wasn't bad, so maybe the kid's hearing was really good. Trained himself to listen to all sorts of noises probably.

Now how the hell did he do that?

Or maybe the earphones are shitty. Like how eighty-five percent of the music is projected outwards and the blond could only hear a small bit of it, hence why it's always on loud volume.

I gave a short hum of understanding and turned my head and eyes else where.

So the kid had a reason to stay behind till 9 at night too huh?

And now there's Goodnight Nurse playing their punked up version of 'The Milkshake' song. Really good stuffs.

I caught the blond yawning from my peripheral vision and I could tell that the kid must've been seriously tired. With the way his shoulder sagged, his curled up hair somewhat limp. His blue eyes not as bright (although it could've because it was late at night) and how they were half-lidded and he looked as though he was on the verge of falling over and falling asleep.

He looked a little ragged too, and his forehead was shining with little droplets of sweat that he either didn't care or couldn't be bothered wiping off. Most likely a bit of both but that was just my opinion.

He smelled…like food as well.

Which reminded me that I haven't grabbed a bite since this morning. And cue the embarrassing tummy growl. But luckily, and I could only hope, his music was too loud for him to hear, although other people had turned their heads towards me and I pretended to act as though nothing was wrong with the world.

Although there was a lot of bullshit going around with the government and parliament and all. They're always making up new laws and signing new bills and shit like that.

Damn annoying if you ask me.

He was listening to another one of the All American Rejects song again. The kid was probably a fan of them.

Sure there were repeats of the same band playing here and there, but the blond still had a lot of variety to his play list.

Like how he just suddenly decided to skip to the next song and now a jazzy tune was playing.

The bus rounded the corner, and soon, it stopped right in front of us with a whine and a fart.

You may not think that's a good way of saying it, but damn, it's so damn true, it's almost funny. Almost.

Everybody whipped out their bus cards, while some others (me included) took out some cash instead.

I caught myself yawning as well as the first few people in line stepped onto the bus. Before long, I watched the blond step on in front of me, and then I followed soon after.

"Three stages please." it was a different bus driver this time, and unlike this morning, this guy didn't give me all the small change. Not that I particularly minded small change.

The kid sat back in his usual seat.

I wasn't too sure if that was a sign for me to sit the spot beside him or not.

In the end though, I settled down right next to him, although half of my ass was falling off while my foot was planted firmly on the ground. I didn't want to sit too close to the blond, not like this morning, since I didn't want the blond to think I was, you know, 'hinting' anything.

Not that I wasn't. Or that I was. Or wasn't…whatever.

It was another five minutes of waiting for people to get on and pay for their fares, and me listening to the kid's choice of music which changed from the jazzy tune and was now playing a Matchbox 20 song.

After a while, there were no more people wanting to get on, and then the bus started rolling and merged in with the small traffic.

It was late at night, which meant that only half of the bus was filled up with people and everybody had their own seat and didn't have to stand up.

Past the traffic light the bus went, up the hill, past another set of traffic lights and before long, somebody pushed the button to get off and when the bus stopped, I glanced at the lazy ass who couldn't be stuffed taking ten minutes to walk up a stupid hill while the bus driver accepted the fare that this old lady gave him.

When she walked past, she smelled like she had been standing around in a horde of mixed spices.

I could smell a lot of cumin, peppercorns and some fennel. That's some really strong shit. And I had absolutely no idea why she smelled like an Indian spice shop. There wasn't any in the city, and hell…the only spice shop I could remember was at _least_ an hour's bus ride away somewhere in the odd suburb where I used to live.

I was starting to get a tummy ache now. But it wasn't because of the spices. It only happens when I haven't eaten for too long a period of time. But the ache would come and go and now it's gone. Although I had a feeling that it would come back and make me keel over in agony.

Oh…the kid was listening to a new song now. Never heard of it before either. The voice didn't sound too familiar and I was pretty sure it was a new band.

I haven't been listening to the radio or been watching a lot of TV, so I have to admit that I wasn't too up-to-date with the whole music scene.

A part of me was tempted to ask the blond what song it was and who played it. But there was this other side of me that just told me to listen, try to catch the lyrics of the song and then search it up when I'm with my computer later.

But being the lazy ass that I was, and still am, I merely glanced over to the blond, quirked up my eyebrow and asked him; "Who's the singer of that song?"

Some side of me told me that the kid probably wasn't listening, or probably didn't hear me, but he sort of ended up surprising me a bit when he took out an earpiece and handed it over to me.

"Lost Realist by Trapt. It's a good song."

I stared at the offered earpiece and slowly took it from his fingers and brought it up to my own ear to listen.

I had been right about the earphones. They were fucking shitty. I almost laughed out loud for no apparent reason.

I found myself agreeing with the blond; the song was good. Really good.

The lyrics had a lot of contradiction to it and I couldn't help but realize how similar it was to me. Since I had a small tendency to contradict myself a lot.

Soon, the song finished, and another started.

The first thing I heard was the piano playing. And after a few more seconds, the drums joined in and soon after that, the rest of the band started playing and the singer started to sing.

It was another song which I didn't know, although the singer was oddly familiar. But I couldn't quite put my finger on who it was that sang it.

"Who sings this one?" I asked as my foot started to tap on the floor of the bus that continued to stop and either drop off or pick up more people.

"Count your Last Blessings by Sum 41."

Ahh…no wonder the singer sounded familiar. But even though the song was good, I still wasn't a great, big fan of them.

He had a weird voice, but then again, almost everybody had a weird voice. Guess it depended on your preference of things huh?

I found myself suddenly trying to memorize the lyrics. And then suddenly trying to make sense of them as the bus rode on, stopped at places, dropped more people off, picked more people up.

Soon, the bus was starting to fill up, although there were still two or three seats available for other people.

When the song ended, and another one started, I realized that I was pretty far behind the current on-goings of the music industry. Since I was listening to another song which, again, I did not know.

Before I even got to open my mouth to ask the kid, my question was answered before it was even asked.

"Anywhere but Here by Sick Puppies."

I hummed again, and quirked up an eyebrow at the weird name.

The band probably ran out of ideas as to what to call themselves, since all the good ones were taken and were already made famous from.

Sure the band had a weird name, but the music was pretty damn good.

The bus ride went by quicker than usual, but I found myself horribly disappointed when I saw that my stop was coming up just around the corner. Again, it was actually straight ahead, but don't fret over the little things.

I had considered missing it and getting off the next stop, but instead, I raised my hand and pushed the button to signal the driver that I, and maybe somebody else, who knows, wanted to get off.

Just as my stop approached, I plucked the earphone out of my ear and handed it back to the kid.

"Thanks." I considered telling him to get a new pair, but I decided to keep my mouth shut. "See you around I guess." I spoke as I stood up and hopped off my ride and started my way towards home.

The bus rolled past and I found myself staring after it and I didn't look away until it was gone from my view.

That was the last time I saw of the blond.

And that was the last time I ever took a bus again. Mainly because my car was finally fixed and I didn't need to hitch a ride with cramped up buses, cranky business women, snobby as guys and cute blue eyed blonds.

Had been about a week too, and then I decided to get into an accident which totally totaled my damn car but I managed to come out without a damn scratch on me.

My family was half grateful that I was ok, but a little pissed off that I was irresponsible enough to get into a car crash.

I told them it wasn't my damn fault because this one guy forgot to hit the fucking brakes and his car crashed right into mine.

Fucking idiot…

But his insurance is gonna pay for all the damages. And they better. And since my car was no longer usable, they were gonna give me a new one.

I told them that I'd rather just take the money instead and help pay off the house mortgage with it. Or at least save it up for the unforeseeable future.

My parents told me to save it up instead. So save it up and left it in my bank account to let it grow and flourish I did.

My friends told me it was a miracle that I survived. A funny, fucked up miracle.

I just told them that I probably just used up all my good luck.

I probably didn't end up using all of the good luck though, since I saw the blond again the next time I was hitching a ride to the city.

The kid was without his earphones and his music this time. I figured that he must've either forgotten his MP3 or his batteries ran out. Either or.

Thankfully, I had my Ipod with me and it was fully recharged.

And since I'm a pretty strong believe in Karma; do onto others what you want others to do onto you, some random saying like that, so I handed him one side of my earphones for him to take and listen.

He stared at it for a little while, probably still a little tired and groggy, but after a while, he took it and stuck it into his ear.

We stayed silent for most of the way into the city. The blond never asked me what songs were what and who sang which, so I figured that either the kid wasn't interested, or he already had what I had.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter though. I'm still pretty far behind.

Just as we went past the invisible border that separated the districts and suburbs to the city, the blond said; "Either we have the same taste in music, or you've been listening to all of my music from the last time."

I merely grinned at him. Neither affirming nor denying.

I had thought that it was a bit of a rhetorical question anyways.

We continued the rest of the way into the city, each in our own thoughts. He handed back my earphone just as our stop came around and then we got off the same bus stop but soon went our separate ways.

A part of me was somewhat disappointed that I didn't get to get his name, but I figured that, maybe if I was lucky enough, I might see him again. I could only hope.

I found myself oddly tired from today's classes, so I decided to take the bus home as soon as I walked out of my classroom.

I saw a familiar head of blond hair, curled up to one side waiting at the bus stop. He seemed to recognize me too as I held out another earpiece for him to take.

He raised an eyebrow at me, stared at the earpiece again but plugged his ear up with it.

We stood by each other. The only thing connected us was the single set of earphones that the both of us shared. A few people stared but I couldn't give a damn about them.

I was starting to think that this was a bit like a tradition for us. Which is sort of weird because we've only done this three times.

Our bus came around the corner, stopped in front of us with another whine and a fart. Some people, myself included, whipped out their bus cards while some others took out some cash.

Our earphones disconnected, he had to take them out before he got on, I left the extra piece hanging around for a while, since I figured that the kid might want it again later.

The blond went in first, I followed soon after.

We claimed back our usual seats, I offered him back the earpiece, which he took and listened to and half of my ass was still falling off the edge of the seat.

At that moment, I decided that Karma or Fate or Destiny probably wanted me to talk to this kid again. This being our fourth meeting and all.

I did more than that.

"I'm Axel by the way." I smiled as I held out a hand.

The blond stared at me for a while, then stared at the hand, and finally, he took it with his own and said; "I'm Roxas."

And holy shit…It took me a while, but there's actually a city named Roxas from what I could remember in my geography class in high school some years ago.

And even though I was proven wrong about his name being from a country, having a city's name for one's own was still something else.

I merely grinned and we remained silent for the rest of the way home.

I must've fallen asleep halfway, being weirdly tired out of my mind, and was given a slight jab on my arm. I was surprised that I didn't _literally_ fall off my seat; maybe because my foot had been there to support me.

Groggily, I woke back up and realized that I missed my stop. But the blond wanted to get off. I figured, with my slowly waking mind, that this was his stop.

Our earphones were disconnected once more as the blond named after a city got off. I hopped off after him, the bus rolled away and I looked around with a bit of confusion while wondering where the fuck I was.

After a short moment, I realized that I was only two stops away from my own and I turned around to see that the blond was still beside me and was staring.

And then he asked; "Are you lost or something?"

I shook my head and fought back a yawn, "Nah, my place is just that way." I spoke as I nudged my head in the general direction of my house, half of my ear plugged up with music, the other earpiece left hanging.

"Ok then." he shrugged and started for his own home.

I decided to walk him back to his place, since I had nothing better to do other than to sleep for the next 24 hours. Thank God it's Friday. He called me a stalker, I just laughed at him.

And lo and behold, a beautiful friendship was formed.

We continued to meet up in the mornings whenever Fate, Destiny or Karma allowed us to, same goes for when classes were over. We continued to share our sense of music and so on. We even exchanged phone numbers and started texting each other just whenever.

Whether it was during a particularly boring class, or a lonely ride to college, or maybe a particularly uneventful weekend, and so on and so on.

It wasn't long before our beautiful friendship turned into a little something more. But that's a completely different story entirely.

Something which I'll talk about next time when I'm up for it.

* * *

Phew…That was something. Lawls. 


End file.
